It’s
not quite dawn at the Chicken Ranch. The sky is yet black as I look out
the window from my bed. The trees outside are a spider web of limbs and
branches that are visible in the moonlight, and ornamented with the
blue flickering stars that appear to hang from them.
The room is quite cool on this winters morn, and the old quilt offers warmth across my chest. Patty’s steady breathing while she sleeps is all that breaks the silence, until I hear the rooster begin to crow. He jumps the gun a bit - there is no sign of the sun just yet - but his declaration of the coming day is welcome. It is a good day when you awaken to the sound of your spouse’s breathing, the rooster crowing, and you can feel in your beating heart, gratitude for another day of life granted to you and your family.
I think about the day ahead, and all the things that necessity has laid upon me. I hope to accomplish what I need to, and I will put in a good effort. As I have grown older, however, I have come to be less anxious over the tasks before me each day. I’ll strike a march toward the things I want to get done, but at the end of the day, if there are non-critical things yet undone, they'll just have to wait. There is always tomorrow. And if there is no tomorrow, well, I reckon it won’t matter much then.
I don't mean to imply that I have fully adopted a totally laid back, easy going mentality. Those who know me well will tell you, that isn't me.I still cannot leave a project undone once I start it. I am loathe to start a construction project here at the Chicken Ranch and just let it hang forever. I will work as many hours as it takes, for as long as it takes, to see the project completed in a timely manner. Once I begin, I'll see the thing done. But, I have learned that some things I might have once obsessed over, just aren't worth the worry really.
I realize that it is proper and good to plan for some things in this life. It would be careless or irresponsible not to. But I have found life to be a varied and fluid thing that alters my designated course with each new event brought before me. Like a river that I am traveling for the first time, I must be prepared to navigate each curve and condition as it comes. Some days are easy drifting; others are filled with rapids or islands. And.. what is around the bend is always a mystery.
The bible tells us that “Time and chance happeneth to all.” What is this life but a ticking clock that is propelling us through a host of unknowns? Some things we encounter are wonderful, some terrible. Joy and sorrow interwoven. The only thing predictable about this life is that it's unpredictable... and that it's finite.
There are floods and drought, feast and famine, a whole host of unexpected things that interrupt us. As John Lennon wrote in one of his songs “Life happens to us while we’re making plans.” So I have come to understand that there likely will be surprises and interruptions throughout my day and, for that matter, throughout my life. I just need to prioritize, and do the best that I can, until I have burned the daylight. I need to enjoy the experience of living; the simple pleasures, and the relationships built along the way.
I get up softly, and then get dressed. I carry my boots to the kitchen in order to finish up quietly. I’ll try to let Patty get a few more winks. I put on a pot of coffee, and head for the living room when its finished. I'll read a little in the Good Book and hope some much needed wisdom will be imparted.
As I sip the hot black potion from my favorite mug, I see the first light of day on the eastern horizon. A shimmering band of yellow orange announces the rising of the sun. The slender clouds light up around the edges in a neon-like border. I see the morning birds move from branch to branch, warming up for their morning chase to find food.
I'm on my second cup of Jo now, and I hear the sounds of my good wife beginning her day in the kitchen. The old rooster is crowing in earnest now.
The new day begins, I know not how it will end. I will try to make it a productive day, a purpose-filled day. I do feel a need to make something out of the time I’ve been given. But, if everything doesn’t go as planned, I’ll see if tomorrow will allow me to do it then. And if it so happens that there is something I want to put off ? Well, I’ll take Scarlett O’Hara’s approach in Gone With the Wind, “I cannot think about that today. I will think about that tomorrow.”
And then I'll await the new days dawn, and start all over again.
The room is quite cool on this winters morn, and the old quilt offers warmth across my chest. Patty’s steady breathing while she sleeps is all that breaks the silence, until I hear the rooster begin to crow. He jumps the gun a bit - there is no sign of the sun just yet - but his declaration of the coming day is welcome. It is a good day when you awaken to the sound of your spouse’s breathing, the rooster crowing, and you can feel in your beating heart, gratitude for another day of life granted to you and your family.
I think about the day ahead, and all the things that necessity has laid upon me. I hope to accomplish what I need to, and I will put in a good effort. As I have grown older, however, I have come to be less anxious over the tasks before me each day. I’ll strike a march toward the things I want to get done, but at the end of the day, if there are non-critical things yet undone, they'll just have to wait. There is always tomorrow. And if there is no tomorrow, well, I reckon it won’t matter much then.
I don't mean to imply that I have fully adopted a totally laid back, easy going mentality. Those who know me well will tell you, that isn't me.I still cannot leave a project undone once I start it. I am loathe to start a construction project here at the Chicken Ranch and just let it hang forever. I will work as many hours as it takes, for as long as it takes, to see the project completed in a timely manner. Once I begin, I'll see the thing done. But, I have learned that some things I might have once obsessed over, just aren't worth the worry really.
I realize that it is proper and good to plan for some things in this life. It would be careless or irresponsible not to. But I have found life to be a varied and fluid thing that alters my designated course with each new event brought before me. Like a river that I am traveling for the first time, I must be prepared to navigate each curve and condition as it comes. Some days are easy drifting; others are filled with rapids or islands. And.. what is around the bend is always a mystery.
The bible tells us that “Time and chance happeneth to all.” What is this life but a ticking clock that is propelling us through a host of unknowns? Some things we encounter are wonderful, some terrible. Joy and sorrow interwoven. The only thing predictable about this life is that it's unpredictable... and that it's finite.
There are floods and drought, feast and famine, a whole host of unexpected things that interrupt us. As John Lennon wrote in one of his songs “Life happens to us while we’re making plans.” So I have come to understand that there likely will be surprises and interruptions throughout my day and, for that matter, throughout my life. I just need to prioritize, and do the best that I can, until I have burned the daylight. I need to enjoy the experience of living; the simple pleasures, and the relationships built along the way.
I get up softly, and then get dressed. I carry my boots to the kitchen in order to finish up quietly. I’ll try to let Patty get a few more winks. I put on a pot of coffee, and head for the living room when its finished. I'll read a little in the Good Book and hope some much needed wisdom will be imparted.
As I sip the hot black potion from my favorite mug, I see the first light of day on the eastern horizon. A shimmering band of yellow orange announces the rising of the sun. The slender clouds light up around the edges in a neon-like border. I see the morning birds move from branch to branch, warming up for their morning chase to find food.
I'm on my second cup of Jo now, and I hear the sounds of my good wife beginning her day in the kitchen. The old rooster is crowing in earnest now.
The new day begins, I know not how it will end. I will try to make it a productive day, a purpose-filled day. I do feel a need to make something out of the time I’ve been given. But, if everything doesn’t go as planned, I’ll see if tomorrow will allow me to do it then. And if it so happens that there is something I want to put off ? Well, I’ll take Scarlett O’Hara’s approach in Gone With the Wind, “I cannot think about that today. I will think about that tomorrow.”
And then I'll await the new days dawn, and start all over again.
